Black Watch

by Gregory Burke

Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch reveals what it means to be part of the legendary Scottish regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again.This book contains Gregory Burke's award-winning text, with production notes by the director John Tiffany and colour photographs that capture the powerful and inventive use of movement in this visceral, complex and urgent piece of theatre.The National Theatre of Scotland's production of Black Watch opened at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006 where it won a Herald Angel, a Scotsman Fringe First, a Best Theatre Writing Award from The List, a Stage Award for Best Ensemble, the Critics' Circle Award and the South Bank Show Award for Theatre. In 2007 it began a world tour in Scotland. "Completely brilliant." Daily Telegraph"Black Watch is a glorious piece of theatre, raw, truthful, uncomfortable, political, funny, moving, graceful and dynamic." Scotland on Sunday"A brilliantly realised piece." Evening Standard"A magnificent piece of social and political theatre. A high point not just of the festival but of the theatrical year" Observer

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Contemporary, Literature, Scotland, Historical Fiction

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2006

About the author

Gregory Burke (born 1968) is a Scottish playwright from Rosyth, Fife, Scotland.

Gregory Burke's first play was Gagarin Way, set in the factories of West Fife. His play, Black Watch, for the National Theatre of Scotland, debuted at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival, meeting with critical acclaim, and has since been performed throughout Scotland and has also toured theatres in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. He has also written Occy Eyes, The Straits, Unsecured, On Tour, Liar and Shell shocked. His most recent play was Hoors, which opened at the Traverse Theatre on 1 May 2009.

His play Black Watch won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Play, the South Bank Show Theatre Award in 2007 and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2009.

Reviews

[Parnian.K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watched twice at Douglas College
Apr 2025

Read in Sep 2025

Extracted from real interviews with Scottish soldiers who served in Iraq, the play’s honesty and authenticity are palpable. I watched it on stage a couple of months ago, directed by Deborah Neville, and it was stunning. The stage directions are very specific and detailed, which truly enhances the artistry of the work. On the page, the play might not seem particularly engaging, but on stage, it transforms into something incredibly beautiful—unbelievably emotional and even poetic.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

Having read most of Burke's other plays, I felt it behooved me to tackle this, his most famous and lauded one. From the production photos and reviews, I realize that this is probably electrifying in performance, but the script I felt was rather meh - or maybe I am just not all that interested in war stories.

[Amandanoel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only give it four stars because so much of the beauty in this play is in the visual performance. one of the most AMAZING productions I have EVER seen.

[ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for my class and I'm not sure why... I'm curious to see how my teacher will interpret it, and I hope this have niche quality because I'm not ready for a long speech about the difficulty of war in general when the subject is so specific

[Duncan Maccoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stage performance is excellent, fast and moving. Reading the play after the performance brought back many of the emotions from the play. Reading the play before the performance may not be as good, this is an active play, played at a fast pace on a traverse stage layout. The language is real, consequently some may find it offensive, others may recognise the authenticity which is what good theatre is all about.

I originally come from the part of Scotland which served as the recruitment area of the Black Watch: these are my ancestors, friends and neighbours.

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for my Scottish Studies Summer School and while I think it is an important play that also shows how another working class men job has been lost for Scotsmen, the blatant disregard for the crimes the Black Watch has committed all over the planet (there is a reason this play was never staged in Northern Ireland!) just made me dislike it. Yes, we should feel sorry for 'the lads', who're just being told what to do, while they're being threatened from outside and within (dissolving the Black Watch), but it's all toxic masculinity and a glorification of the military. Nah, thank you

[JM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this as a birthday present for a friend but due to the Lord in his infinite wisdom setting a plague on us I am holding on to it for a little while. I am really not a theater guy, I find it a bit off-putting, find it stiff just overall don't like it. Can enjoy reading a play but not as much as a novel or short or comic, plays are about even with poetry I'd say in the area of "I can read it but meh"
Which leads me to Black Watch, I found Black Watch fine, I guess if you dig theater you would get more out of it but big positives I got from it is the characters you will be able to identify as fairly realistic and the story is very constrained and small there is no bombastic action scenes, it's got a great control of dark Scottish humor and the language is so natural that it's hard not to be taken by the flow of the dialogue. That does lead me to a negative which is I don't know how well this plays outside of Scotland, the slang and extremely niche subject matter makes it interesting to a Scottish audience predominantly and perhaps military historians or even those that were interested in the Iraq war and failures of the hawks that sent the military into the Middle East, the characters several times make a point to say we are not defending anyone we're bullying them.
I think three is fair because I did like it, it's also just that this is one of my big blind spots so the stuff I am missing can't really be explained to me because I just do not click with the medium.

[(Ellie) ReadtoRamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fast read but also quite an emotional and hard hitting one. This play is really short, but in so very few pages it describes what it's like to he Scottish and in the army. The hardships people go through during war, but also when they come home.
A writer (the author of the play I'm supposing) goes to see a regiment that is no longer on tour, they have left the army, but it stays with them all the time.

The play is told back and forth from the pub with the writer and the soldiers in civilian dress, back to Camp Dogwood in Iraq, during the fighting, when the Scottish regiment did nothing but stayed at camp.

I really enjoyed reading this play, I watched the BBC filming of the play at the same time and it was really vivid and well portrayed. It was very eerie and extremely well thought out.

[Zosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The honesty of this play is engaging and thought provoking. Being able to follow verbatim accounts of these Scottish soldiers’ stories gives the play an extra dimension not only on the page, but in production too.
With a play such as ‘Black Watch’ it is the false sense of security at times that grips you. Stories of laughs and jokes brought literally crashing down due to bombs and air strikes.
Great read.

[Danielle Muldoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this enough. Easy to see why the script is award winning. The Scots dialect is very Irvine Welsh, Burke following his familiar dialect. A true moving story about resentment innocence and the harrowing, deep rooted effects that war can have on ordinary innocent individuals who have been ignorant of the darkness that lies ahead.

[Mia Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest to god, one of the most interesting shows I have ever read. The writing is so captivating and illegally watching it makes it so much better. The characters are so real, like the Scottish mindset is so similar to the energy of And Then There Were None and the Vietnam soldiers that it was super easy to consume as an American, but also opened my eyes to how BULLSHIT the American military is.

[Thisisnotmarta · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

I wish I could see it on the theater...

obra curtísima pero que refleja o sentimento que teñen os escoceses polo exército, que nin sequera eles mesmos saben explicar porque o fan.

'Do you think they'll make a film about this war?
They fucking better. I didnay fucking join the army for it to no tay get immortalised on the bigaros fucking screen'

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More visual than most plays (I understand from a couple of videos that there was a lot of choreographed movement), so it’s difficult to get the full measure by reading it. But the characters look like they would come alive on stage and it could be quite a spectacle.

[Kathryn D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like as a text this isn’t super impactful, but I can see why it would make a humongous impact on audiences as a performance. I like the way the play was constructed and I thought the notes at the beginning of the text were awesome.

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much better geared for viewing than reading as it's difficult to capture the splendour through simply reading

[Leonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very quick paced insight into Iraq war from pov of black watch men - point of view that’s not highlighted in literature and one that should be

[Shreyaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ava Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

so moving, raw and heart-wrenching. absolutely amazing play.

[Bea Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

post thatcher

[Şenay Habibe Elmas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ready for production

[Douglas Yannaghas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and unsettling and eerily similar to many an anictode I've heard from friends of friends in the Scottish military. Would love to see this performed one day.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

best read w bbc play in background

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked the story, but the huge amount of cursing was really off-putting.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

OWLs Readathon Wrap Up

This is a play about what it means to go to war and, in particular, it's talking about the Black Watch which is a Scottish regiment.

Black Watch talks about what it's like to be a soldier and this is a play which I think is very needed and very powerful I imagine – visually. So this is set up with an interviewer interviewing this particular regiment, before, during and after they go to the front lines.

This deals a lot with PTSD, with found families and also with the political pissing contests of armies are supposed to be on the same side. I gave this two stars which for me is fine, it's okay. It's not something that usually read but I do appreciate the material. I do appreciate how this could be great on the stage but as a playbook it wasn't as powerful as I thought it was going to be. I have read other play books that have had a severe effect on me, a profound effect on me, that I absolutely loved. This one just wasn't for me, I guess is what I'm saying.

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Watch is about Scotland's famous Black Watch regiment's part in the Iraq War, or the "war on terror". While the script may be a little confusing with the constantly changing scenes and focusses, Burke does a wonderful job highlighting the media's role in the public's opinion of the war and contrasting it with the reality or the soldiers' thoughts. In a way, Burke is able to capture the futility of the Black Watch's mission. (My professor compared it to Beckett's Waiting for Godot; the characters are just waiting around, hoping to be told what they're supposed to be doing, but never really getting a proper answer.)

If you disapproved of the US's and the UK's invasion of Iraq and the subsequent eight-year war, then you'll find a companion in this play. Burke effectively critiques the purpose of the war (with the characters not really doing anything, Cammy's thoughts on the war and joining the army, etc.) and accurately portrays the life of the modern soldier in a compelling and truthful manner.

The only real problem with Black Watch is the same that goes with other plays: it needs to be watched. There are many wonderful visual and auditory cues in the text that just fall flat while reading. Imagination is good, but I don't ever think it will compare to seeing this play performed. (And I know, because my professor showed us clips of a BBC Scotland production -- blew me away.)

[Jack Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my favorite thing I've read in the latter half of 2013. so mad that i did not get to see this when it toured the country. the story of the famous Scottish army regiment subjected to grueling tours of duty in Iraq, Burke, and director John Tiffany, take what could have come out as a cliched anti-war screed and turned it into something more interesting: a stylized, surreal, sometimes funny, most of the time horrifying, look at the price of war, as well as the bonds of brotherhood, nation, etc. You'd think that a piece on army-men involving dance and movement, stylized bits of poetry, and post-modern self consciousness would be a complete train wreck, and yet I'm of the opinion that productions like these are needed to show audiences -- mostly young people -- how theatre will always be able to viscerally portray emotions better than any other medium, and also show them how theatre is vital to not only understanding ourselves but our collective consciousness.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I heard a performance of this play on BBC Radio 3 last year and it came across as a powerful piece. The play has toured the world (or at least the US in 2007) to great acclaim. On the page however it just seems like a lot (and I mean a lot) of swearing. Not as funny as Gagarin Way but then it's not a funny subject (Iraq war and the changes to centuries old Scottish regiments).

Guardian review

Guardian on Gregory Burke

National Theatre of Scotland Black Watch pages.

[Verena · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting how the play is set up and the (hi-)story is definitely thrilling.
However. I do not want to believe that men, soldiers, people actually converse in such a vulgar way.

If you don't like EXTENSIVE swearing you should not read/watch this play. Don't.
Additionally, the dialogues are mainly Scottish, which is not easy to follow (at least for people with English as a second language only).

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly my favorite play I've ever seen. I saw the play in Glasgow before reading it, which I think was the right way to go about it. It is definitely best when viewed live as opposed to read, because the choreography and different aspects of the set are so incredible. There's a reason why this is such a hit in Scotland and abroad!

[M-L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched the play on DVD and then read it afterwards. I thoroughly enjoyed the play. For a topic that I don't normally engage in, it was witty, fast paced and humorous which broke up the sheer horror and scariness of the situation. I also learnt a lot about Scotland's Black Watch and its heritage.